History ComicBook / TheFilth

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: For starters, the ending takes place non-linearly. Greg confronts Mother Dirt, who tells him to spread part of her to his flowers. In the following panels, Greg is back at home as if nothing happened but now is a magic healer and heal a junkie who smoked a cryptic mysterious blunt. That's because Greg is now a vessel for I-Life (who now oddly looks like [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcans]], that saved him after his suicide attempt, and have brought back Tony too. Greg goes to meet him, with the phrase "We have love". Also, notice something weird about the flowers?

* FiveManBand: Ned Slade's "special squad" of the RagtagBunchOfMisfits from the five divisions of the Hand, with Ned as TheHero, Cameron Spector as TheLancer, Dmitri-9 (little, but a vicious killer) as TheBigGuy, Moog Mercury as TheSmartGuy, and Miami Nil as TheChick. Alternatively, since Greg Feely questions everything Ned does you could argue that Feely/Slade is his own Lancer.

* AnythingThatMoves: Tex Porneau is the living embodiment of this trope, going so far as to [[spoiler:create a breed of human-sized flying sperm so that he can LITERALLY FUCK THE ENTIRE CITY OF LOS ANGELES]]. Anders Klimakks, with his career as a porn star/[[spoiler:bio-engineered sex god]] and his nearly 900-woman mating record, is also a perfect example of this trope.
* AscendedFanboy: Max starts out describing himself as this. Then [[spoiler:after he's killed, the body he's worked so hard to get into comic book superhero shape is hijacked and used by another aspiring superman]].

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: In "The World of Anders Klimakks", [[spoiler:Miami Nil sodomizes Tex Porneau with a special strap-on that injects a pheromone into his anus.]]

Morrison, [[CloudCuckooLander who believes that their comics are also spells that can magically transform the consciousness of their readers]], intended it to be an 'inoculation' against the horrors of modern living as well as a celebration of the nature of filth: something which is an inescapable part of living, but which humanity tends to ignore, bury or flush away.

Morrison, [[CloudCuckooLander who believes that their comics are also spells that can magically transform the consciousness of his readers]], intended it to be an 'inoculation' against the horrors of modern living as well as a celebration of the nature of filth: something which is an inescapable part of living, but which humanity tends to ignore, bury or flush away.

Or it's all a lie and Greg's finally gone crazy.

Morrison, who believes that his comics are also spells that can magically transform the consciousness of his readers, intended it to be an 'inoculation' against the horrors of modern living as well as a celebration of the nature of filth: something which is an inescapable part of living, but which humanity tends to ignore, bury or flush away.

And there's a sweary communist chimp in it and everything.

** Nevertheless, a few years later Brian Bendis and Jonathan Hickman created a vaguely similar idea for Fury - his organisation, SHIELD, has been a puppet of his enemy, HYDRA, since its creation - and it was published.
*** It probably succeeded because it wasn't nearly so radical in comparison.

** [[http://www.cesspit.net/drupal/storeroom/misc/filth1.gif WARNING: Do not fly into the fourth wall.]]

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: In "The World of Anders Klimakks".

* MoreThanMindControl

* NosyNeighbor

* RealityEnsues: For Secret Original.

* GenreSavvy: Max Thunderstone. Arguably also a case of WrongGenreSavvy, as he thinks he's the "hero" of the story and the Hand are the villains.

* FridgeBrilliance: What if Feely ''is'' a pedophile, and the Filth (as the "cleaners" of society) are his mind's way of coping, by providing the illusion of an outside group willing to "clean" him up?

** In "Us. vs. Them", Sharon Jones

* BrokenAngel: Secret Original was once his universe's version of ComicBook/{{Superman}}, but he tried to BreakTheFourthWall, and though his superpowers saved him from dying, he was left almost completely paralyzed and in constant pain.

* CreatorBreakdown: The whole series is the result of such a breakdown.

* AnythingThatMoves: Tex Porneau is the living embodiment of this trope, going so far as to [[spoiler: create a breed of human-sized flying sperm so that he can LITERALLY FUCK THE ENTIRE CITY OF LOS ANGELES]]. Anders Klimakks, with his career as a porn star/[[spoiler: bio-engineered sex god]] and his nearly 900-woman mating record, is also a perfect example of this trope.
* AscendedFanboy: Max starts out describing himself as this. Then [[spoiler: after he's killed, the body he's worked so hard to get into comic book superhero shape is hijacked and used by another aspiring superman]].
* BodyHorror: Sharon Jones in "Us v Them".

* BrokenAngel: Secret Original.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive
* CaptainErsatz: According to Morrison, the story started out as a pitch for Marvel Comics' ''ComicBook/{{Nick Fury}}'', but was seen as too strange and radical a change for the character - i.e. the reader being told that [[spoiler: Fury is in fact an injectable fake personality inserted into several unassuming saps over the years by a shadowy uber-organisation.]]
** Nevertheless, a few years later Brian Bendis and Jonathan Hickman created a vaguely similar idea for Fury - his organisation, SHIELD, has been puppets of his enemy, HYDRA, since its creation - and it was published.

* GranolaGirl: Soon.

* LonersAreFreaks: Subverted; loner Greg is the most empathic character in the comic.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The cosmic garbage trucks cross dimensions by engaging Ninth Gear ("faster than the speed of wall.") A character in ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' mentions that nine is the favorite number of the Hindu god Ganesh, Remover Of Obstacles. Other references to religion and cosmology are sprinkled throughout the story.

** [[http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/31566/1101280-dmitri_9_super.jpg Sorta like this...]]

* CaptainErsatz: According to Morrison, the story started out as a pitch for Marvel Comics' ''{{Nick Fury}}'', but was seen as too strange and radical a change for the character - i.e. the reader being told that [[spoiler: Fury is in fact an injectable fake personality inserted into several unassuming saps over the years by a shadowy uber-organisation.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: The cosmic garbage trucks cross dimensions by engaging Ninth Gear ("faster than the speed of wall.") A character in ''TheInvisibles'' mentions that nine is the favorite number of the Hindu god Ganesh, Remover Of Obstacles. Other references to religion and cosmology are sprinkled throughout the story.

* DeadBabyComedy

* BodyHorror -- Sharon Jones in "Us v Them".
* {{Brainwashed}} -- Ned Slade has been brainwashed into thinking that he is sad loner Greg Feely. [[spoiler:But this is subverted toward the end of the series when it is revealed that Feely is the true identity and The Hand are trying to turn him ''into'' Ned Slade.]]

* CaptainErsatz -- According to Morrison, the story started out as a pitch for Marvel Comics' ''{{Nick Fury}}'', but was seen as too strange and radical a change for the character - i.e. the reader being told that [[spoiler: Fury is in fact an injectable fake personality inserted into several unassuming saps over the years by a shadowy uber-organisation.]]

* CrapsackWorld -- The whole point of ''The Filth'' is to explore the worst excesses of society.
* CreatorBreakdown -- The whole series is the result of such a breakdown.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale -- In "The World of Anders Klimakks".

* ElectricInstantGratification -- Max Thunderstone mentions that scientists have discovered enlightenment is analagous to an epileptic seizure in a certain area of the brain. Part of his plan to uplift humanity is to show people how to push their own "Buddha Button".
* FiveManBand -- Ned Slade's "special squad" of the RagtagBunchOfMisfits from the five divisions of the Hand, with Ned as TheHero, Cameron Spector as TheLancer, Dmitri-9 (little, but a vicious killer) as TheBigGuy, Moog Mercury as TheSmartGuy, and Miami Nil as TheChick. Alternatively, since Greg Feely questions everything Ned does you could argue that Feely/Slade is his own Lancer.
* FourthWall -- Played with in "Structures and Ultrastructures".

* FunetikAksent -- Cameron Spector. A lot of exposition in the comic is spoken by her, which makes it all the more harder to figure out.
* GenreSavvy -- Max Thunderstone. Arguably also a case of WrongGenreSavvy, as he thinks he's the "hero" of the story and the Hand are the villains.

* IntrepidFictioneer -- As noted in the summary above, this is S.O.P. for The Hand.
* NotSoImaginaryFriend -- In "#*%$ Police".
* LimitedWardrobe -- Fair enough: The Hand all have standard uniforms... but Greg always wears the same dirty shirt and trousers.
* LonersAreFreaks -- Subverted; loner Greg is the most empathic character in the comic.
* TheMenInBlack -- Subverted.

* {{Nanomachines}} -- In "Us v Them".

* OmniscientMoralityLicense -- The Hand [[IDidWhatIHadToDo do horrible things]] in order to [[StatusQuoIsGod maintain the status quo]].
* OutWithABang -- In "The World of Anders Klimakks".
* PaedoHunt -- Greg is targeted by one after he tries to buck the system.
* PaintingTheMedium -- Max Thunderstone projects visible thought bubbles.

* RecursiveReality -- The Paperverse, created in the labs of The Crack, which in turn is reached by dimension-hopping garbage trucks and is implied to be [[spoiler:a microscopic base on Greg Feely's kitchen floor.]] The Hand is presented as society's immune system, and its agents are antibodies.

* ShowWithinAShow -- In this case a comic within a comic.

* ViolentGlaswegian -- Cameron Spector.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic -- The cosmic garbage trucks cross dimensions by engaging Ninth Gear ("faster than the speed of wall.") A character in ''TheInvisibles'' mentions that nine is the favorite number of the Hindu god Ganesh, Remover Of Obstacles. Other references to religion and cosmology are sprinkled throughout the story.

* PaintingTheFourthWall -- Max Thunderstone projects visible thought bubbles.

Creator/GrantMorrison's thematic follow-up to ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'', ''The Filth'' is a ''very'' darkly humourous maxiseries about Greg Feely, a hapless loner who lives alone with his ailing cat and subsists on a diet of chocolate and pornography, who one day discovers that he is really Ned Slade, a gun-toting interdimensional agent. The series lasted for 13 issues (August, 2002-October, 2003).

** BreakingtheFourthWall: Secret Original did this, and was broken back.

!!''TheFilth'' provides examples of:

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic? -- The cosmic garbage trucks cross dimensions by engaging Ninth Gear ("faster than the speed of wall.") A character in ''TheInvisibles'' mentions that nine is the favorite number of the Hindu god Ganesh, Remover Of Obstacles. Other references to religion and cosmology are sprinkled throughout the story.